Endless chain conveyer



(No Model.)

, 2 SheetsSheet 1. W. F. HUNT. ENDLESS CHAIN GONVEYER.

Patented May 17,1898.

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we noams Perms co. PHO'YD'L\THO.,WASHINGYCIN. a. c.

(No Model.) v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. F. HUNT.

ENDLESS CHAIN GONVBYER.

Patented May 17,1898.

WVILLIAM F. HUNT, OF WEST NEW BRIGHTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE C. W. HUNT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ENDLESS-CHAIN CONVEYER.

SPECIFICATIONforming part of LettersPatent No. 604,234, dated Maylir', 1898.

' Application filed November 15,1897. Serial No- 658,517. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. HUNT, a citizen of the United States, residing at West New Brighton,in the county of Richmond and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Endless-Chain Oonveyers, of which the following is a specification.

Endless-chain conveyers have been provided with gravitybuckets supported on tracks by wheels or rollers and moved along by the connecting-chains, and the buckets have been made with lips at both the forward and backward edges, lapping one upon the other to prevent the material that is supplied into the buckets falling between one bucket and the next. Buckets of this character are represented in Letters Patent No. 552,664, granted January 7, 1896, and in this patent devices are represented for swinging the buckets upon their pivots in opposite directions, so as to allow the lap of the lips to be changed in order that the buckets may pass upward or downward as moved along by the chains without the lips interfering one with the other. In consequence of the buckets hanging by gravity upon their cross-bars or pivots they are liable to swing, and this motion may be augmented in consequence of any irregularity in the progressive movements of the chain, and when the projections or studs upon the buckets approach the stationary cams by which the buckets are caused to swing in one direction or the other the buckets may be swinging in such a way that the projections will become blocked or wedged against the stationary cams, and thereby injure some of the parts.

The object of the present invention is to so place and construct the projections upon the buckets that they cannot become wedged or blocked against the stationary cams as the buckets and the projections are moved along progressively and brought into contact with such stationary cams; and with this object in view I place the projection that is upon the bucket above the pivot and that serves to swing the bucket in one direction to the rear of the pivot and above the same, so that when coming into contact with the stationary cam it cannot become wedged therewith by any swinging movement that the bucket may have previous to the contact with the cam of the projection upon the bucket, because such projection is pressed downward by the action of the cam as the bucket is moved along by the chain and its pivotal connection. I also construct the bucket in such a manner that it can be removed from the chain with facility for repairs, if necessary, and the bucket can be replaced, and in consequence of the opposite ends being similarly made the bucket can be returned into position and will come correctly in relation to the stationary cams whether the bucket may have been turned end for end or not.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an end View of oneof the buckets, and Fig. 2 is a cross-sec tion of the same. Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view on a smaller scale, showing several of the buckets and the connecting-chains and illustrating the different positions assumed by the buckets as they are acted upon by the sta* tionary cams for dumping. Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the manner of changing the lap of the lips, and Fig. 5 is an elevation of one of the pivot-plates.

The buckets A are advantageously of cast metal, such as iron or steel, but I do not limit myself in this particular, and each bucket has ends 2 and 3, curved bottom 4, and inclined sides terminating with lips 5, and the chain B is composed of links with cross-bars 6 or inward-projecting lugs forming pivots for the buckets, and suitable wheels or rollers are provided for supporting the chain and buckets, and the distance between one crossbar 6 and the next is such that the lips 5 lap one upon the other sufficiently for closing any space that might otherwise exist between one bucket and the next and for preventing any material dropping between the buckets as supplied into them from a suitable chute.

In order to remove either bucket from the cross-bar without disturbing such cross-bar or the chain, the ends of the buckets are notched to allow the bucket to be put up against the cross-bar from below, and the pivot-plates O are adapted to fill the notches bucket to resume anormal position in regardto the bucket that is nextin front of: itand: with the lap ofthe lips in the desireddirec tion,.the swinging and changingoffthelap of.

above the cross-bars, and they are connected to the buckets by the bolts 7 or other rigid or separable devices, and these pivot-plates advantageously lap upon the inner surfaces of the bucket, so that the bolts may pass through contact with the stationary cam D for tipping, the buckets in succession at whatever place the contents are to be discharged,.as illustrated in Fig. 3, and the ribs 9, extending up from the inverted arch-shapedlcams' 8 tonearthecross-bar pivots,- strengthenthe endsvv of the buckets, and the tipping projection-10,

uponone end'of the bucket-is advantageously a continuation of one of theribs 9, passing to the rear of the pivot andprojectingtoward';

the rear edge of-the bucket, it being understood that the parts are so. arranged andconj nectedup in the conveyer-chainthat the tipping projections 10 are. all to-the rear of the 1 pivots as the'buckets are carried. along by the chain, and these projections lOcome into contactwith the stationary cam Etotip the. bucket when the lap of the lips islchanged itvbeing understood that such projection 10' on the advancing bucket holds the bucketzin a sufficiently-tipped condition to allow the next bucket to be similarly tipped without colliding, andthenthe projection onthe frontbucket passes'offthe cam E andallowssuch the lips being similar to the operations described in the saidPatent No. 552,664.

It is only necessary hereint'o state that in consequence of the tipping'projection' 10 beingatthe rear of the pivot and above the same the. bucket may be-swung upon-its pivots more or lessas the sameis being carried along.v by the chain, .andvthe projection 10' can never pass to the front of the pivot, asin the aforesaidpatent, and thereby come improp--' erly into contact with the cam and become wedged, butsuch tipping projection 10. will only rise and'fall by any swinging movement: of thebucket,and being to the rear. of the pivot will underrun. the inclined surface of the stationary cam, so as to be depressed thereby andswing. the bucket to the proper extent and hold the same with the rear edge depressed, while the bucket next in the rear is liberated and allowed to swing,,so that its advancing edge comes above the depressed lip at the rear edge of the front bucket,,so as to change the lap of the lips in the desired manner, as set forth inthe aforesaid patent.

In consequence of the arch-shaped camsS being similar at both sides of the center lines of the buckets they are efficient in moving in either direction, and hence the stationary cams that tip the buckets can be at either one side or the other of the track, and by making both ends of the buckets sirnilarthat -is tosay, the tipping projection 11 at one end of the bucket passing forward, as shown by dotted lines, and the projection 10 at the other end passing to the rearthe projection'll will come properly into position to be acted upon by the stationary cam E if the bucket is taken out and turned end f orend, it being advantageous under all circumstances-to place the stationary cam E in such a position that it acts at the side where :the tipping projectionslO or 11 are at the irear of the cross-bar pivots, and in consequence of the arch-shaped-cams 8 beingsimiiilarly'shaped at both sides the stationary cam D can beat: either sideofthe track wherever most convenient, .or two cams D maybe-used, lone at each-side of the-track. Wherever. the lap-of thelips may require ito-be changed, the buckets are-swung in opposite directions sufficiently to clear each 1 other and allow the bucketsto returnto their :normal positions with the lips-lapped in the proper direction, and in accomplishingthis :objecta'cam maybe used to act upon the arch-shaped cams 8 only'sufficiently to swing the bucketsin-separating the lips instead'of dumping the same, as in Fig. 3, or the buckets may be swung for this purpose by one stationary camor bar E- actihg on the advancting projectionsl-l at one-end of the buckets, (see Fig. 4,) to swing the bucket one way and the other cam or bar E-to act on the rear proj eoti ons 10 to swing the buckets the other way and to allow the buckets to assume their normalpositions with the lap of the lips changed.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with the chain and the pivotsin an endless-chain conveyer, of buckets-notched at their ends for the pivots, and removable pivot-pl ates at the notches and means for connecting such removable pivot-platesto the bucket ends, substantially asset forth.

2. The combination with the chains inan endless-chain conveyer, of buckets and pivotal supports on the chains and a projection at the end of each bucket above the pivot and to the rear of such pivot, and a stationary cam for acting upon such projections andtipping the buckets to change the lap of the lips, substantially as set forth.

3.. The combination-with the chains in an endless-chain conveyer and the cross-bar pivots, of buckets notched at their ends to receivethe pivots, removable pivot-plates and means for securing the same to the ends of the buckets over the pivot-bars, cams upon the endsof the bucketsand below the pivots and stationary cams for engaging the cams on the buckets in tipping the buckets for disfor end between the chains, substantially as charging the contents and projections upon set forth. 10 the ends of the buckets above the pivots and Signed by me this 10th day of November,

to the rear of such pivots at one end for en- 1897.

gaging a stationary cam to change the lap of WM. F. HUNT. the lips, and similar projections at the other Witnesses: ends of the buckets but forward of the piv- GEO. T. PINOKNEY,

ots, so that the buckets can be changed end S. T. HAVILAND. 

